Different Types of Identity

Identity cards, to be introduced for British
nationals and residents circa 2009, will contain identity
information, including biometric data. Both its legal requirement
and the inclusion of this biometric data have caused a great deal
of consternation.

Identity theft is, in actuality, a very broad term
that defines many different types of crime. For the purpose of this
essay this author shall restrict themself to the most common three
forms as identified by Cole (Cole p 133). Financial identity theft
involves using a victims identity to create new credit lines to
exploit for financial gain." Criminal identity theft occurs where,
a person awaiting arrest or charges using another's identity to
evade legal ramifications. Identity cloning occurs when imposters
create a whole new life for themselves using another's identity.
This can include everything from job, marriage, schooling to taxes
and pensions and all under the assumed identity of another
individual.

"The true damage lies in the sense of personal
violation, psychological trauma, possible medical care, family
issues, and other ill effects, which of course include the time and
expense involved in trying to restore one's financial identity."
(Cole p128) The psychological impact of identity theft is no doubt
real and can be severe. It is possible to conceive of a victim
reaching the realisation that identity is reducible to a few
strings of numbers and a mother's maiden name. That maybe ones
sense of self is, in this digital age, inextricable tied to
sequences of numbers. However, this author finds it unlikely that
many would suffer greatly from this most existential of concerns.
Maybe the intellectual implications will filter and diffuse
throughout society and influence, maybe create, whole new
conceptions and senses of self. Maybe future personal identity will
in fact be influenced, nay defined, by credit card numbers and
maiden names. This author has neither the time in this essay, nor
the psychological understanding to even attempt to elucidate the
possible ramifications of number defined identity, however this
author does feel qualified to comment that, for now and for most,
identity theft is an economic and criminal experience, not an
existential crisis shaking the foundations of personal identity to
its core. Identity theft's impact upon personal identity would seem
minimal to this author, certainly at the present time though, of
course, an impact is felt. It is possible that the effects of said
impact may grow and spread and, given time, duly effect conceptions
of personal identity.

Identity is not stolen like a purse or automobile.
Thus it would be easy to say that identity theft and identity cards
are nothing more than criminal acts and a passport that one is
forced to carry. However that is an oversimplification. "The term
'identity' is the historians, not that of contemporaries. Status,
kinship, metier, and place defined individuals in early modern
Europe, not identity. If identity theft was impossible at that
time, so, more importantly, was the self defined as 'identity'."
(Poster p103) Definitions of identity and self shift through the
ages. Identity is mutable, transient. It is very possible that
identity theft and identity cards may challenge the comfortable
notions of personal identity in the near or distant future. For
today they are an irritant, at worst, a horrible crime, for the
future maybe personal identity really will be defined by those long
sequences of numbers. I for one would hope not, but times march is
inexorable.